


I fall for you (It's easy to)

by Tisnotonfire



Category: NCT (Band), NCT Dream
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Jealousy, Jeno and Jaemin fall for the same girl, Jeno broke the bro code, M/M, gay realisation, i swear Hina is a sweetheart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-07-08 14:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15932549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tisnotonfire/pseuds/Tisnotonfire
Summary: Jeno, in Jaemin's opinion, is someone who doesn't understand first and foremost rule of the ‘bro code.’ One must not go after a girl if they are aware another guy has already set his sights on her.Or, in which Jaemin and Jeno fall for the same girl and neither of them are subtle about it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this was in my documents and I'm not really sure what this is, it wasn't even meant to be a nomin fic at first but i guess it turned out to be one! I remember reading something like this and i just wanted to see how this trope would turn out with Nomin + Hina! Sorry if this has any grammatical errors, i kinda edited this at 3 am. Anyways, hope you enjoy ;)

Jeno, in Jaemin's opinion, is someone who doesn't understand the first and foremost rule of the ‘bro code.’ One must not go after a girl if they are aware another guy has already set his sights on her. Sure, both of them could get any chick to fall head over heels for them but Hina in their eyes, seemed like an untouchable Godess. Despite Jaemin telling Jeno that he’d been trying to woo Hina, a girl in his class who stole his breath away upon their first meeting — they happened to run into each other at a sharp corner and her books colliding with Jaemin’s stomach may or may not have left him winded —Jeno still went ahead and stuck his big nose into his business. This dispute is what had driven a wedge between the two quite early on in their acquaintanceship. Jaemin honestly would've been more remorseful of it had it not been the older boy’s fault in the first place.

Well played, Jeno.

Irritation still flared up inside Jaemin to this day, every time he recalled those four words that had led to whatever competition they had going on now. If he gave Hina a pretty rose he’d come across on his way to school, Jeno would appear the next day with an entire bouquet of them. Similarly, if Jeno offered to walk the Hina to her Literature class, Jaemin would carry her books for her. In some twisted way, he supposes that, through their back and forth exchanges of trying to one-up the other, they were somewhat closer than they had been half a year ago. That said, he was also a lot more willing to go out of his way to make Jeno’s life that little bit harder.

Take yesterday for example.

“So yeah, I was…” Jaemin tuned out of what his friend was telling him, his attention diverting to a soaked figure hurriedly making his way to the entrance of their dorm building. It was pouring outside and Jaemin went to open the door for them — that is, until he caught sight of the familiar face beneath the hood. He promptly slammed the door shut and locked it for good measure, throwing the guy on the other side a wicked smirk.

“What the fuck? Jaemin, open the door!” Jeno’s fist pounded against the door, his eyebrows furrowing in disbelief at the other, who simply shrugged with no sign of remorse on his face whatsoever.

Pointing to the side of the building, Jaemin mimed the action of climbing a ladder. “Gonna have to use the fire escape to get to your room.” He mouthed, absolutely loving how all the colour drained from Jeno’s face. They'd known each other long enough for Jeno to know Jaemin would go through with this — the evil little shit.

Fast forward to the following day and Jaemin is on his way to class with a little skip in his step. He’s still pretty chuffed with what he'd done to Jeno and he’s reaching for the doorknob when the sudden sound of a sneeze has him stumbling back in surprise. Turning his head, he bites back a grin at the sight of Jeno miserably dragging his feet down the hallway. Funnily enough, the majority of each of their classes is spent together.

“You’re not looking so hot Cassanova.” He calls out and Jeno's head shoots up, his bloodshot eyes immediately narrowing as they land on Jaemin.

“You.” He's seething by the time he shoulders past him to enter the classroom, “just fuck you.”

Jaemin’s about to retort, but the teacher appears and ushers them inside. He doesn't argue back just this once since he's in a particularly good mood. Jeno is ahead of him and he watches as the boy slumps in his seat and sneezes again. Jaemin pauses. He's not actually sick, is he? The boy sneezes a third time and Jaemin sighs, hanging his head. Damn it. He tells himself the only reason he's doing this is because he's a good-natured person, too kind for his own good, and absolutely not because he actually feels guilty.

“Don't go spreading your germs.” He mumbles, unceremoniously throwing a pack of tissues from his bag at the unsuspecting brunette. Jaemin doesn’t wait for a reaction and heads to his own seat, several rows behind Jeno’s.

“Is Jeno okay?” Hina foregoes a greeting, instead shooting the younger boy a worried glance and Jaemin ignores the small stab of irrational jealousy.

“Yeah, just has a cold, is all.” He shrugs nonchalantly, as if he had nothing to do with the boy coming down with the illness in the first place. Jeno’s a big boy. He can handle a couple sniffles.

The frown is still on Hina’s face, but she nods her head nonetheless and returns her attention to the front of the class. Jaemin doesn't miss the way her gaze flicks over to Jeno every couple minutes and he sends the guy a dirty look from behind. Okay, so maybe he didn't grab her attention intentionally, but that doesn't stop the irritation that flares up inside Jaemin every time he tries to talk to Hina and she gives him a distracted, half-arsed answer because she’s too preoccupied checking Jeno hasn’t fallen unconscious or anything.

When the bell rings, signaling the end of class, she's up and at his side before Jaemin can even pack his books away.

“...I can come over with some soup later.” He catches the tail end of their conversation as he passes and can’t help but linger near the two to listen to what nonsense Jeno manages to spout.

Jaemin rolls his eyes when he hears the raven-haired boy respond in a much sicklier voice than he'd heard when the guy had snapped at him earlier.

“Could you? I don't want to be a—”

“No, it's fine. Really.” Hina’s quick to insist — the kind soul. Jaemin bites his tongue to stop himself from butting in.

Jeno coughs then and wow, is he for real? He’s milking it now and Jaemin regrets giving him his last pack of tissues.

“If you’re absolutely sure you don't mind then I’d really appreciate it, Hina. Thank you.” Jaemin finds it creepy how unfamiliar the tone of Jeno’s voice is since he's more used to hearing it laced with a little more venom.

They exchange goodbyes after and Hina leaves with a brief wave in his direction.

“Enjoy eavesdropping there, Jaemin?” And there’s the Jeno he knows, sounding much better and not even half as nasally as he’d feigned to be only mere seconds ago.

Scowling, Jaemin turns to shoot him a glare and Jeno holds his hands up in mock surrender.

“Woah, hostility.” He’s grinning as he gathers his books in one hand and stands from his desk, “thanks for the cold, man. Wouldn't have a date later with Hina if it hadn't been for you.”

Jaemin scoffs, “it's not even a date. She's dropping by to give you soup.”

Shrugging, Jeno shoulders past him. “Still more action than you’re getting.” He calls over his shoulder and Jaemin's patience wears thin. How Jeno manages to rile him up so quickly, he doesn't know. The guy could literally just breathe and he'd want to throttle him. However, the second bell goes off to indicate he has five minutes to get to his next class, before he can retaliate and needless to say, Jaemin is extremely grumpy when he clocks into his second lesson.

 

The next time the pair butt heads is at the gym where testosterone levels skyrocket and neither are particularly in the mood to argue. It's also extremely busy for some reason and the only remaining treadmill is the one next to Jaemin, leaving Jeno no choice but to suck it up if he wants to get in his daily five-mile run.

Jaemin has his earbuds plugged in and is far too focused on maintaining his even breathing to even notice the other’s presence, so the first ten minutes or so go by smoothly. And it would've continued like that had he not slowed to a jog to take a drink of water and scan his surroundings. He almost chokes on the liquid in his mouth when he finds Jeno only two feet away and going so hard, you'd think he was training for a marathon. Jaemin wants to say he doesn't stare, but his gaze lingers on the beads of sweat running down the protruding veins on the guy’s neck and maybe he spends a little longer than necessary eyeing the way in which his leg muscles flexed.

Jeno notices this and has the audacity to shoot him a wink. Jaemin immediately whips his head back to face the front because what the fuck? Why did he just wink at him and why did Jaemin's stomach actually flip at the action? He puts it down to indigestion and resumes sprinting. He glances at Jeno's machine to see what speed he’s going at and cranks his own up just that teensy bit faster. Not long after he does this does he hear Jeno's footfalls get louder and increase in pace and, curious, he side eyes the guy to find he's bumped his own treadmill’s speed up to two levels above Jaemin's.

Oh.

Thus begins their competition to see who can run faster. Jeno comes out victorious, but just barely, and Jaemin would like to say it's because he's on the track team for lack of better excuses. They're both panting and disgustingly sweaty once they shove past each other into the changing rooms.

“You smell like trash.” Jeno wrinkles his nose as he collapses onto one of the benches and practically inhales a litre of water.

Jaemin gulps his own down just as quickly, “you look like trash.” It isn’t the best retort, he’ll admit, but he's tired and can't be bothered to come up with something wittier.

He drops down onto the bench opposite Jeno and slumps back against the wall with a sigh. He's surprised the other hasn't thrown anything back at him, but he should've known not to speak too soon.

“Did you know Hina has a cute little heart-shaped birthmark?”

It's abrupt and off topic and Jaemin just rolls his eyes, although he feels his blood boiling almost instantaneously.

Jeno continues talking despite his lack of response, “probably the size of my palm. It kinda slopes across her collarbone and onto—”

“Shut up.” Jaemin glares and gets to his feet, muscles already starting to ache. His heart feels funny and his ears start to turn a shade of red. He still has that sinking feeling in his stomach, that whirpool of whatever he was feeling. He knows he's going to regret whatever race he'd just had with Jeno, tomorrow morning. He grabs his towel and heads into the shower room, choosing to ignore whatever else the younger boy says because he'll only end up riling himself up.

Jaemin had never really cared much that the gym had communal showers since it was just guys in here. Until now. The light footsteps following after him tell him Jeno's right behind him and he doesn't know why he feels nervous all of a sudden. He pulls his shirt over his head and wraps a towel on his waist without much thought, but he's hesitant to even look at Jeno.

“Clearly we know who's been working out more now.” He quips, patting his biceps ostentatiously. Jaemin scoffs, turning around and still contemplating whether or not to storm off in humiliation.

“You're so immature.” He says, nervously looking away. 

Jeno snorts behind him, “Like you're any better…”

After Jaemin finished washing the grime and dirt off his body, he sits on the benches in the locker rooms with a towel flung over. Jaemin was waiting for Jeno to finish as he scrolled through his social media. He could see Jeno's figure approaching him, trying to dry his hair with a towel. He was also wearing a black tank top that accentuated his Greek God-like build to Jaemin's demise (he glued his eyes down onto his phone thinking nothing of it.)

Jeno's sudden silence has him looking up from his phone. Jaemin was wearing their Uni's varsity sweatshirt which was slightly too big on him today for some reason. 

"Jaemin... I think you're wearing my hoodie."  
confused, heat instantly floods his face at the look on Jeno's face. It's obvious he’d been staring at him for a long time because the guy’s eyes instantly snap up to meet his and Jaemin's not sure if it’s just his imagination, but he thinks he sees a light dusting of red across the boy’s cheeks before he turns away to pack up his gym clothes. 

They're oddly quiet after that. When they go outside the Gym to leave for their dorms, they make quick and contact before whipping their heads away from each other. Clearly, Jaemin forgot to check the Weather forecast because the harsh downpour of rain he witnesses tells him he should've brought an Umbrella. In contrast, Jeno seemed to already have an umbrella, opening it up quickly. He steps onto the pavement before cautiously eyeing the younger boy.

Jaemin was stood there shivering, noting that the sky was bleeding two colours at once; a mixture of Cat's puke after too much salmon intake and a deep blue, which indicated that dusk had arrived.

"Maybe you should get under this umbrella instead of staring at me." Jeno spoke, breaking the silence.

"Yeah right, as if I'd want to be walked home by the likes of you." Jaemin snorts, secretly hoping Jeno would disappear from his sight to stop him feeling this unwanted feeling.

"Shut up you actual infant, I know how shit your immune system is." he scoffs, rolling his eyes. 

"Besides, I doubt you even have enough money to catch an Uber."

Jaemin gulps because Jeno is right. He doesn't know why but the thought of walking home with his supposed 'arch nemesis' makes him wants to curl up in a ball and die. It was always easy for them to do things together back in middle school but something as stupid as Girls and Popularity had left their friendship tumultuous and ugly.

Jaemin gives in as he gets under the umbrella. They walk together with nothing but the comforting glow of the amber street lamps, and rain drizzling down from the Umbrella. Their shoulders bump into each other several times and it feels electric to Jaemin. They walk at a comfortable silence until they reached Jaemin's dorm. They come to the halt as Jaemin punches the lock code for the main door. He turns his head around to see Jeno; cheeks dusted pink. He must be catching a cold too, Jaemin concludes.

"I'll see you around then, Jaemin." he inaudibly whispers without making any eye contact, smiling softly onto the ground.

"Y-yeah, you too!" he stammers in a high pitched voice. He hopes Jeno didn’t notice his voice crack slightly.

Jaemin almost laughs because this is weird. So weird. He enters his room that day oddly flustered as he collapses onto his bed face down. He starts kicking his legs up and down manically as he screams into his pillow out of frustration; if that was even what he was feeling.

 

Jaemin's running late to class. His alarm hadn't gone off this morning and his roommate Chenle had chosen not to wake him up — 'Jaemin, you look so cute sleeping.' He's still half asleep, his hair is a mess and he thinks he brought the wrong text books with him. He's also currently sprinting down the hallway to catch the elevator before the doors close because he really can't afford to be late. He has Bio first thing and his teacher is a major hardass who gives out detentions left, right and centre. It's a wonder he hadn't run out of detention slips yet.

“Hey!” He calls out to whoever’s already inside the elevator, “mind keeping those open?”

Whoever’s inside doesn't make a move to stop the doors from closing and Jaemin almost trips as he dives forward and shoves his hand between the panels. He's ready to yell at whoever had ignored him and probably shouldn't be surprised that it's Jeno’s face he finds when he looks up.

“Asshole.” He bites out, stepping inside and leaving a good metre or so between them. Whatever happened between them yesterday was practically wiped out from his memory. He was starting to think it was a dream because here comes Lee Jeno again, riling him up at this ungodly hour. Honestly, what had he done to instigate this entire chain of unlucky events on this particular morning? Was it because he'd left his sister at the park that one time? He swears he hadn't meant to. He'd just gotten distracted by the pair of cockapoos across the street.

“You’re a mess.”

Jaemin doesn't have the patience to deal with Jeno right now — not that he ever does, really — and simply shrugs. If he stayed quiet, Jeno would just get bored.

“You have toothpaste and jizz on your shirt too.” Jeno points somewhere along his chest and Jaemin promptly looks down in panic, only to have the guy’s finger flicking him in the face.

Oh, wow.

He shoots Jeno an unimpressed look, “really? Are you actually five?”

The corners of Jeno's mouth twitch upwards into a small smile, “and a half.”

Jaemin tries his best not to laugh because this is just ridiculous. Biting back a grin — Jeno is not funny. The only reason he's even borderline amused is because he's really tired, okay — he crosses his arms and faces the front of the elevator. They're only halfway down to the ground floor when it opens up again and Jaemin refrains from groaning in annoyance. He only has twenty minutes left to make his way across the college courtyard. Just when he thinks his situation can't possibly get any worse, one of the sloppiest guys he's ever seen steps into the elevator.

If Jaemin thought he was a mess… well. Jeno's face twists into one of disgust as the overpowering stench of body odour and stale pizza fills the small space and Jaemin subconsciously inches closer to him. He may not like Jeno, but the guy’s always got some sort of sweet cologne on, which is something Jaemin would much rather subject his nose to. No matter how much he wanted to strangle Jeno, he smelt infinitely better than whatever acrid funk surrounded the guy who'd just entered.

The rest of the elevator ride is spent in awkward silence with Jaemin practically pressed up against Jeno's side. He may be an asshole, but damn was he a fragrant one. When the doors eventually open, they both topple out practically gasping for air, but Jaemin doesn't have much time to waste clearing his lungs because he's got a teacher to beat to class. He's not sure why he says it — perhaps the putrid fumes had gotten to his brain — but the words tumble out of his mouth before he registers what he's said and when he does, he's already halfway across campus.

“See ya, Jeno.”

 

“Are you free later?” It's taken Jaemin a good fifteen minutes of internal contemplation to muster up enough courage to approach Hina at the beginning of lunch.

She looks up from where she's sitting in surprise, eyes comically wide and plump lips parted in shock. They kind of remind Jaemin of Jeno's after he's been gnawing at them for too long. And speaking of which, said brunette appears out of nowhere, sidling up to the two of them with a wicked smirk plastered across his face.

“Hey Jaems, may I speak with you for a sec?” His tone is sickly sweet and Jaemin frowns, knowing exactly what he's doing.

He gestures between Hina and himself, “I’m kind of busy h—”

But of course, he doesn't get to finish his sentence because Jeno's already got his fingers around his wrist and is tugging him to a table in the corner. Jaemin, however, is adamant on actually asking Hina out without ultimately chickening out for once, and firmly plants his feet to the floor.

“What do you think you're doing?” He yanks his arm out from Jeno's grip and the boy turns to face him with a lopsided smirk already firmly in place on his infuriatingly attractive face.

“Saving your ass from the embarrassment of rejection. I thought it was obvious.” He says as if his intentions should've been clear as day. What an insufferable son of a— “she already has plans with me later, so…” he shrugs nonchalantly and jealousy swirls in Jaemin's gut, truly an ugly feeling, but he can't help it. Hina always gets to spend time with Jeno— he shakes his head. He means Jeno always gets to hang out with Hina. Gosh, he must've been more tired than he thought. Those damn professors and their penchant for making students’ lives miserable.

It's frustrating how Jeno's always a step ahead of him and Jaemin's starting to get the feeling that he's probably not Hina’s type. He doesn't want to entertain this thought though because he'd only come to realise that he'd just wasted practically an entire year making advances on someone completely disinterested. Hell, he'd probably made further progress with Jeno than he had with Hina.

“I see.” He's feeling a little humiliated now and drops his head, “well, better luck next time, I guess.” It's not the response Jeno is expecting, judging by the taken aback expression on his face. Jaemin usually only has two moods around him; he's either smug and ready to rub something in his face or pissed beyond belief, so the sudden switch to this was somewhat unsettling.

Jeno opens his mouth, shuts it and opens it again. Jaemin wants to point out his resemblance to a suffocating fish, but instead asks, “what the hell are you trying to say?”

Instantly scowling, Jeno throws him a dirty look. “You looked like a wounded street cat. I was tryna come up with something to… to get that ugly look off your face.” His eyes dart away then, cheeks a little red and Jaemin scoffs because okay, he’d still managed to throw an insult in there.

“Ugly, huh?” Jaemin knows he's good-looking, not to be big headed, and he takes full advantage of it now. Jutting out his bottom lip and looking up at Jeno through his lashes — he’s about to be sick, this is gross — Jaemin leans in a little. “Then what do you find attractive, Jeno?” He's never done this before, this means of messing with Jeno's head, but when Jeno's cheeks turn several shades redder, he thinks he might try it more often. This time he knows those pink cheeks were not a result from the common cold but from him. It makes him feel accomplished.

“I–I… Jaemin, what the fuck? Stop.”

Jaemin shoots him the most clueless look he can, “Stop what? I'm not doing anything.” He flutters his lashes and he can't believe this is working because ew, what is he even doing? Jeno narrows his eyes at him, although the way he fidgets on his feet tells Jaemin he’s more affected by this than he'd like to admit.

“Stop acting all cut– weird.” Jeno shifts uncomfortably and Jaemin drops the act, snickering at the guy’s borderline constipated expression.

He pats his shoulder in feigned sympathy, “it's okay. I'd be dazzled by my presence too.”

Jaemin barely makes it out of the cafeteria without Jeno tearing him to pieces. Jaemin didn't know where this surge of confidence came from; as 90 per cent of the time it was Jeno who was teasing him.

 

“Maybe you should give up on Hina.”

Jaemin's lounging on his friend’s couch, their dorm being closer to where his classes are when Mark says it. He looks up from his phone, appalled that he'd suggest something like that.

“Do you know what that would equate to, Mark?” He asks seriously, pausing for effect because his friend needs to know the importance of the point he’s trying to get across, “if I do that, I'd be admitting defeat and I refuse to let Jeno feel a single ounce of victory.”

Mark frowns, “wait, and let me get this straight. The only reason you're still trying to get with Hina is because Jeno wants her too? Are you out of your mind? You can't play with girls like that.” He pins Jaemin with a judgemental stare and the brunette sputters.

“What? Of course I like her.” He says, tone defensive and mildly offended, “I liked her first actually.” The last part was mumbled, but it's enough for Mark to bury his head in his hands. His best friend is an idiot.

“Jaemin,” Mark figures he needs to knock some sense into that thick head of his before he does any serious damage to this poor girl’s wellbeing, “let's say you truly do like her—”

“I do.”

“Okay, you like her.” He sighs at Jaemin's stubbornness, “So you'd want her to be happy. If being with Jeno is what she wants then don't you think you should let them be?”

The image of Hina and Jeno together — kissing, cuddling and, Jaemin shudders, sleeping together — doesn't sit well with him and Jaemin shakes his head. He's already jealous just picturing the pair acting all lovey-dovey with each other. He doesn't want to imagine how much worse he'd feel if the real thing were right in front of him.

“No.”

Mark scoffs, “what do you mean ‘no’?” Jaemin was officially out of his mind.

“I don't want Hina to be with Jeno, Mark. Just the thought of it makes me sick. Hina’s sweet and caring and Jeno's…” he struggles to find an appropriate description for the pain in his ass, so Mark supplies one for him.

“Yours?”

“Yeah, he's mine. I don't want Hina to— wait, what?” Jaemin blanches, shooting Mark a look of betrayal.

Taking a sip of his smoothie — some sort of wheatgrass and protein-rich concoction, which Jaemin gagged at because it was swamp green — Mark replies calmly, “I believe you just called dibs on the guy you proclaim to be your enemy.” He'd had his doubts about the claim ever since Jaemin failed to go a day without mentioning Jeno, whether that be in the middle of a rant or the brunette simply just cursing the boy to blow off some steam.

Jaemin frowns, sitting upright and narrowing his eyes. “Listen here you Canadian Moosehead,” Mark opens his mouth to voice his complaint towards the uncalled for the nickname, but Jaemin holds a finger up to hush him, “I’d rather drive off a cliff than see Jeno as anything even remotely close to a friend, let alone someone I like romantically.”

“Technically, you can't even drive, so you only have the latter option—” the remainder of Mark's sentence is muffled by a mouthful of throw pillow and Jaemin leaves his apartment, contemplating whether to murder Jeno first or his so-called best friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry this was pretty rushed and it took a different turn from the first chapter but i wanted to make nomin soft instead of being at each other's throats 24/7 because quiet reminder that they used to be friends oof. This wasnt proofread reallyy well so apologies if you find any mistakes ;) this is the final chapter btw!

Jaemin remembers the first time he met Lee Jeno. It was back in high school, freshman year; when Jaemin transferred from his tiny school in Jeonju to the metropolitan city of Seoul. Jaemin didn’t have a lot of friends back then, gosh he didn’t even have his own mobile phone.  
Lee Jeno was the boy who sat next to him one lunch and offered him a flyer to join the lacrosse team.  
“Make the team and you’ll show you’re worthy enough to hang out with us,” he challenged but his voice had no bite to it.  
After he made it into the team, Jeno took the pleasure of giving Jaemin a bone-crushing hug. Jeno giggled and flashed his eye smile and It was the first time Jaemin felt so happy in ages. That inconspicuous feeling of butterflies in his stomach mixed with the feeling of your heart wanting to jump through your throat.  
In his senior year, Jaemin was a brooding star player of the Lacrosse team, with an unsettling amount of girls apparent in his ‘fan club’. 

 

Today was the day they had the assignment on The Bioethical principles on Therapeutic cloning. Jaemin's sleep-deprived self just wanted to chug down a gallon of coffee or sleep, not face the day ahead of him.  
Not only had that, but Jaemin and Jeno had the impending luck of being partnered up in another assignment together.  
Jaemin approached Jeno; rolling his eyes and clicking his tongue, but to his surprise, Jeno was in a jovial mood as his smile reached his cheeks and his crescent moon eyes were showing up again.  
“Who sweetened up your cereal this morning?” Jaemin quipped.  
“My cereal… yeah... my cereal.”  
Jeno seemed to be in some kind of a daze because he looked like a cherub waiting for love.  
“I took Hina out on the Lacrosse trip.”  
Pause. What?  
Everyone knows that that particular field trip was where every lax bro went with their girlfriend to have a one night stand, get wasted, lose their V card or have 3-hour make-out sessions in the hot tub.  
“And holy smokes Jaemin, that hot tub was really something else. Especially with Hina." Jaemin sucked in a shaky breath, feeling his throat constrict. "Too bad I snatched that opportunity from you, huh? If only you would have given up on h-‘  
There’s a loud screech from his chair as Jaemin abruptly stands. He doesn’t know why but tears start rolling down. He tries to bite his lip to stop letting out choked sobs but that doesn’t help. He looks a mess.  
“Whoa, whoa- wait, Nana what’s wrong?” he asks in a soft concerned tone, one Jaemin hasn’t heard since high school.  
Jeno looks aghast as he frantically tries to grab Jaemin’s wrist, but Jaemin flees the classroom as heads turn his way. He was always a good runner and he’s thankful for that. He runs to the locker rooms and slams the door shut.  
He sits on the commode as tears trickle down his cheeks, he grits his teeth as he punches the side door of the cubicle. Jaemin isn’t the one to cry easily, but right now he felt as though his whole world was crumbling apart. Why was he so competitive with Jeno when there was nothing to prove? His own ego got the better of him all this time. Jeno deserved to be happy, no matter how much he liked Hina. Why does he always feel like with him? Seeing him being whipped over Hina sickens him, even though that’s a horrible mindset to have. He always knew they both liked her but he never thought he would go this far with her. Did Jaemin even like Hina to begin with?? Or was she just an incentive for a stupid highschool rivalry. He felt somewhat betrayed and helpless. He kept a mental note to remember to apologize to Hina too. Jaemin knew he was good looking and popular but he couldn’t set every girl’s heart on fire it seemed. He wasn’t sure if he was crying because of Hina getting together with Jeno or Jeno getting together with Hina. After the talk with Mark yesterday that maybe he did have some hidden feelings for Jeno, and maybe he was pining for him this whole time after all. His mind was clouded and heart was heavy. He couldn’t come to terms with the fact that he might like guys. Especially guys like Jeno.  
There was a soft knock on the door accompanied by Jeno’s hushed voice reverberating through it.  
"Nana! are you in there? Please open the door." “No! i- don’t call me that anymore.” He sulked but eventually unlocked the cubicle door.  
“Jaemin I-“  
“Before you say anything” Jaemin speaks, cutting Jeno off.  
“You deserve to be happy Jeno, I’m really sorry I lashed out like that. I know I supposedly have a thing for Hina and I’m questioning that and everything is so confusing but I’m a terrible person for cutting off ties with you over a girl. That was dumb of me, I know,” he chuckled through the tears.  
“And Jesus Christ this is probably going to be the most embarrassing thing I'll ever tell you but…” he takes a deep breath.  
“Imightlikeyoulikealikelikekindofway like you and please don’t be grossed out or anything all I want is-“

He’s cut off by Jeno’s lips crashing on to his lips, and, oh. Jaemin’s mind is going haywire. He’s frozen in shock, as Jeno’s hands find a place on his waist. They break apart for a second; Jeno looking into Jaemin's eyes for approval. Jaemin cups Jeno's face as their lips fit perfectly together like a puzzle piece. Jaemin felt as though he was swimming in gold. He felt like he was diving in an ocean filled with too much emotion and he was too swept up in the moment to realise he was drowning. Drowning in all of Jeno. He realised now that he wanted to be with him with every fibre of his body. He picks Jaemin up and props him up against the sink. Jaemin’s hands run through his hair as the kiss deepens. They pull back when they both need some oxygen. They look at each other with their glassy, tear brimmed eyes; panting from the exhaustion of crying and kissing. They both laugh as Jeno begins to cup Jaemin’s face. 

“Listen Jaemin, I’m so sorry for lying to you. I didn’t spend hours in the hot tub with Hina that was a big lie. The real reason she even went was to meet up with Koeun, and I swear we were nothing more than acquaintances in the first place”  
“Wait it was?” Jaemin cocks up his eyebrows as he grins.  
“Yes, now shh.” Jeno gestures as he briskly caresses Jaemin’s lip with his pointer finger.  
“It took me a while but I also realized that I liked you, with help from several mental breakdowns and a lecture from Hyuck.” He laughs.  
“I kinda also realized that all I was doing was trying to make you jealous because you liked her that much. I’m really sorry, I don’t know what was going through my head.”  
“Apology accepted.” Jaemin grins, “And I'm really sorry for what I did too… God, we really are dumb and dumber huh?”  
Jeno snorts. “Definitely. Apology accepted- but…”  
“Buttt?”  
“You’ll have to kiss me again.” 

 

 

Hina was shocked to see the two boys handing her a ticket each to the local onsen near the campus.  
“Hina, Jaemin and I are both sorry for being on your coattails all the time. We were just- really confused and you’re really pretty and all but-“  
“Whoa, simmer down.” She smiled,  
“I kind of had a feeling you two were pining over each other. You were acting strange around me too so I can kind of figure out what happened,” she remarked.  
“Are we good then?” they both asked her in unison.  
She merely laughed and offered them both fist bumps.  
“These are complimentary apology tokens by the way; two so you and a friend can go.” Jaemin spoke as he offered her the tickets.  
“Maybe you and Koeun could go?” Jeno asks with a grin.  
Hina’s face flushes as she quickly snatches the tickets.  
“Thanks.” She muttered as she waved them off. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jeno  
So are we officially ‘friends’ now?

From Jaemin:  
Lee Jeno I didn’t make out with you in an ugly public bathroom that smelt like feet for you to call us ‘friends’ smh! >:(((

From: Jeno  
I’m just kidding :p Why don’t I take my boyfriend out on a date to the matcha café down the street? seeing how he loves Japanese food.

From Jaemin:  
BOYFRIEND?? BOYFRIEND!!?? Lee Jeno I’m going to suffer an early death because of you! Seriously!!! And you still remembered that from when I first met you?? I’m so in love rn. I hate you. 

From Jeno:  
Aww, why are you so surprised? Also having our first kiss in a communal bathroom was sentimental okay! (Well it was until Mark Hyung walked in on us giving each other nose kisses.) But nonetheless ill make it my number 1 priority to kiss Jaemin in a more magical place next time ;)

From: Jaemin  
Dude stop making me so feel so warm and gooey :( its bad for my frail heart. I gotta go help Mark Hyungie wash his car now because he’s nagging me…  
From: Jaemin  
I love you Jeno. So much. 

From Jeno:  
I love you so matcha ;) Also did you just ‘dude’ me?? 

From Jaemin:  
:pp (I appreciate the pun tho) 

 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hoooooooooo and that's the end folks!! thank you for reading this mess I impulsively wrote at 4 am in the morning! This is also my first proper fic so leave your comments and thoughts on it guys! :) Also I don't really know how college/uni classes work or anything so I apologize if anything seems out of place! I think they work in Majors but they still take other classes?? I'm not sure, but Mark is a nutritional sciences major, Hina is a literature major, Jaemin is a Humanities major and Jeno is an accounting major (but they both have bio together!) :)


End file.
